The small town of Ave Maria, Fla., is home to Ave Maria University, a strictly Catholic institution – and critics say, an undemocratic form of government dominated by one man’s interpretation of religious doctrine.

The community of about 2,500 souls is a project of eccentric millionaire and Domino’s Pizza founder Tom Monaghan, who reportedly planned the town as an ultra- conservative Catholic enclave in an isolated stretch of Florida countryside. Read more

The Internal Revue Service indicated earlier this year that it has the proper mechanism in place to investigate houses of worship that break the law by engaging in partisan politicking. But recent comments by the tax agency’s top official indicate there’s still some confusion about this issue. Read more

The results of the midterm elections may present new challenges to supporters of separation of church and state, but not all of the news is bad: Voters soundly rejected religiously-motivated attempts to severely restrict or even ban access to some forms of contraception. Read more

Religious Right groups are crowing about the results of yesterday’s elections, and they have reason to: There’s no doubt that the next Congress is going to be more welcoming to right wingers who are obsessed with social issues.

With so many more far-right conservatives coming into Congress, it’s inevitable that we’ll see a ramping up of the “culture wars.” That’s unfortunate because I doubt that’s what most people were voting for yesterday. Read more

When an extremist dad found out his daughter had received an assignment to learn about the rise of Islam in history, he got more than a little upset. In fact, he went so far as to threaten the school.

The Maryland Independent in Charles County reported last week that Kevin Wood, a former corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps, was slapped with a no-trespassing order after he made vague threats over the phone to La Plata High School Vice Principal Shannon Morris. Read more

The Orange County chapter of Americans United for Separation of Church and State November 8th event will present Jere Lipps, a geologist, paleontologist and marine biologist who has studied the evolution and paleo-biology of marine organisms for decades. He will address the politics of climate change, which is yet another place where some would like public policy to be based on religious beliefs rather than science.

A group in Mississippi is collecting signatures for a ballot initiative to change the state constitution in several ways.

The proposal put forth by the Magnolia State Heritage Campaign is pretty wide-ranging and is being pitched as a way to protect “Southern” (read: pro-Confederate) culture. It contains 12 subsections. Read more

The Supreme Court in June handed down its verdict in Hobby Lobby v. Burwell, and, just as we feared, that ruling’s reverberations continue to be felt as the Religious Right adopts the cause of corporate religion. Now, Moody Theological Seminary in Chicago has introduced an initiative that appears directly inspired by the ruling – and motivated by a desire to encourage more business owners to introduce religion into secular workplaces.Read more